| General | News & Analysis | Trade & Industry | Professional | Scholarly | |
| Audience | Written for a very general and broad audience. | Written for a broad audience of concerned citizens. | Written for those with an interest in a particular industry. | Written for those with an interest in a particular profession. | Written for scholars, professionals, researchers, students within the field. |
| Purpose | General information, with a purpose to entertain or inform. Secondary discussion of someone else's research. May include personal narrative or opinion. | News and/or analysis of current events. | Industry-related information, current events, ideas, products, services, job ads. | Practical information for those working in the profession: developments, research articles, trends, products. | In-depth original scholarly research, with the goal of scholarly communication. |
| Appearance | Colorful and attractive. Heavily illustrated, often with photographs. Lots of ads. | Typically colorful and attractive. Ads. | Color photographs, visually appealing, industry-specific ads | Profession-related ads, some graphics and charts. | Generally have a sober, serious look. May contain graphs and charts, with very few photos or ads. |
| Examples |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| General | News & Analysis | Trade & Industry | Professional | Scholarly | |
| Language | Uses general language, usually on a ninth grade reading level. | Uses general language. | Uses specialized terminology or jargon of the field. | Uses many technical terms specific to the profession. | Uses technical terminology specific to the subject. Requires expertise in the subject. |
| Authors | Authors are journalists or staff writers. | Authors are staff writers, scholars, or freelance writers. | Authors are professionals within the field or journalists with subject expertise. | Authors are professionals within the field or journalists with subject expertise. | Authors are specialists, researchers, scholars within the field. |
| Sources | Little, if any information about sources is provided. | Little, if any information about sources is provided. | Occasional references are provided. | Occasional references are provided. | Sources or references are provided. Facts are verifiable, source information used is verifiable. |
| Pagination | Each issue begins with page one. | Each issue begins with page one. | Each issue begins with page one. | Each issue begins with page one. | Each volume/year begins with page one, and consecutively continues through the end of the volume/year. |
| General | News & Analysis | Trade & Industry | Professional | Scholarly | |
| Examples | Ebony, Readers' Digest, Newsweek, People, Sports Illustrated, Time. | National Geographic, Economist, New York Times, Nation, National Review, Atlantic Monthly. | Billboard, Beverage World, Computerworld, Editor & Publishers, Oil and Gas Investor. | Physical Therapy, Phi Delta Kappan, Reading Teacher, Music Educators Journal. | Journal of Marketing, Sex Roles, Analytical Chemistry, American Sociological Review. |
Sources: Piedmont College Library, Olympic College Library, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Ana College Library, OASIS, San Francisco State University.